Best 243 bullet for deer?

[Orange Dust]

I'm going to get flamed for this, but have a lot of experience with the mix of this cartridge, kids, and deer. Not a fan, and tried a lot of different bullets and handloads. That being said the most successful bullet has been a 55gr Ballistic tip. All the way to a couple of hundred yards. No .243 bullet will consistently kill quicker. And I feel it is important for the youngster to see the animal fall, However, The animal MUST be broadside. If he is close, and he should, be you will almost always get him if hit solidly in the body. Might make a mess, but you will get him. Shock and blood pudding can be a good thing sometimes. Another benefit is if you use a brake recoil seems somewhere between a 22LR and a 22MAG. Its not bad with a plane barrel. This makes it easy for them to hit what they are aiming at. Let the flaming begin, but this is time tested and proven. Load it hot, should be able to approach 4200 with a 24" barrel.

 

[the blur]

I have never seen a deer run far from a .243. Last deer I hit head on. Bullet traveled all the way to the hams. 30-40 yard run, dead.
Previous to that, exit wound was a golf ball.

 

[Orange Dust]

I have never seen a deer run far from a .243. Last deer I hit head on. Bullet traveled all the way to the hams. 30-40 yard run, dead.
Previous to that, exit wound was a golf ball.

You mix kids, a .243, 100gr bullets, and over time you will lose over 50% of the animals shot even with good trailing dogs. Guaranteed. In the heat of battle you will find it is much harder to keep the kid sighted in than the rifle.

 

[the blur]

You mix kids, a .243, 100gr bullets, and over time you will lose over 50% of the animals shot even with good trailing dogs. Guaranteed. In the heat of battle you will find it is much harder to keep the kid sighted in than the rifle.

That problem will be 100x worse with a .30-06. The kid will be soooo recoil shy the deer will be hit in the guts.

 

[Orange Dust]

That problem will be 100x worse with a .30-06. The kid will be soooo recoil shy the deer will be hit in the guts.

Exactly. You want little or no recoil and all the blood pudding possible playing this game.

 

[KurtB]

The kid in the original post is now 22 years old. Wonder how it went?

 

[Orange Dust]

The kid in the original post is now 22 years old. Wonder how it went?

I really need some reading glasses and a couple bottles of attention.

 

[Idaho Lefty]

The kid in the original post is now 22 years old. Wonder how it went?

He's Killin' Elk with,.. beeg, Bergers, now !!! LOL !
All kidding aside,. Teach Rifle shooting, in ALL possible, Field Positions, MANY Times, BEFORE you take those Kid's, Hunting !
We ( my son, 21 y/o grandson and I ) took my, 11 Y/o grandson out to the rolling Hills Desert, 5 Times and let him shoot, 12-15 shots, starting at, 110 yards, finishing, a couple of months later at, 237 Yd's on, 11" Dia. steel Plates . He only missed, One shot, on our last Trip with, my Tikka .243 Win. ( stock cut down, to FIT him ).
Using 87 grain V-Maxes to Practice with and 87 gr, Berger H-VLD's @ 3,000 FPS, to Kill his First deer at, 268 yards, he shot Prone over, a Pack with a Toe rest, at 12 y/o now and used, One Shot, DRT behind, the "Crease" on, a NICE, 4x3 Muley with, HIS own,.. "Handload" !
TEACH those Kid's RIGHT and there won't be, as many,.. LOST / wounded Deer !
The .243 Win., IS, "enough Gun" in, the right Hand's .

 

[Orange Dust]

He's Killin' Elk with,.. beeg, Bergers, now !!! LOL !
All kidding aside,. Teach Rifle shooting, in ALL possible, Field Positions, MANY Times, BEFORE you take those Kid's, Hunting !
We ( my son, 21 y/o grandson and I ) took my, 11 Y/o grandson out to the rolling Hills Desert, 5 Times and let him shoot, 12-15 shots, starting at, 110 yards, finishing at 237 Yd's at, 11" Dia. steel Plates . He only missed, One shot, on our last Trip with, my Tikka .243 Win. ( stock cut down, to FIT him ).
Using 87 grain V-Maxes to Practice with and 87 gr, Berger H-VLD's @ 3,000 FPS to Kill his First deer at 268 yards, shot Prone over, a Pack with a Toe rest He's 12 y/o now, and used, One Shot,.. DRT on, a NICE, 4x3 Muley.

In this part of the country kids start hunting and fishing much younger. They hunt (Unarmed) as soon as out of diapers. Most have killed a deer before their 7th birthday. By the time they are 12 they are over the little guns and shooting stuff like 270WSM, 7RM, etc. Same with shotguns. By the time they are 12-14 they are shooting at least a 20ga and many of them 12ga and are on a skeet or trap team with school, 4h or something. That is also about the age most of them will have completed and passed their Hunter Education. They are begging to hunt by themselves. It happens a little at a time with the parent staying in sight of the little one. By now they are expert at driving ATV's and learning to drive trucks and cars. By 14 they have a permit for driving on the road with an adult. Both my girls were shooting good scores in competition long before they could drive themselves there. By the time they are 16 they have a driver license and a hunting one and go off on their own. It is my understanding that kids are getting less and less excited about growing up and clinging closer to home now days. I hope that is not the case and have no first hand experience with it but have been told the above is no longer true. It was when mine grew up.

 

[KurtB]

Built a little 6/45 rig to plink with and use for training any future grandkids with. I'll have to test it myself to insure all is good lol. Currently pushing 90 grain ELD at 2600 ish, 95 Bergers a little less. Gun weighs in upper 8 pound range with suppressor attached. Burning 25 grains of powder. Its very pleasant to shoot. And the 7.5 twist has them spinning pretty good. Just need to run a few of each through critters to see how they do.

 

[Quintus]

You mix kids, a .243, 100gr bullets, and over time you will lose over 50% of the animals shot even with good trailing dogs. Guaranteed. In the heat of battle you will find it is much harder to keep the kid sighted in than the rifle.

That is interesting. Totally different experience here. Sister in-law, and all my kids and nephews and nieces have all killed several deer with the 243. With 85 grain Sierra BTHP GK, TSX, Partition - 90 grain Scirocco, Accubond, 95 grain B-Tips and Partitions and never lost a deer and we don't have deer dogs. This over the last 15 years with kids from 10 years old eventually up to 20. Well north of 30 deer killed with several in the 250Lb+ class including horns. It is interesting though, my youngest boy is the only one still shooting the 243, he is 22 now. The rest have all picked different and in all cases bigger bullets for their 'grown up' guns from 260 up to 300Bee. We have lost 4 deer over the years from adults shooting .223Rem, 270Win, 308Win, and 30-06. The 30-06 and 270 losses were old timers no longer with us and it was failing eye site and Parkinsons as the culprit, not cartridge selection.

 

[Orange Dust]

That is interesting. Totally different experience here. Sister in-law, and all my kids and nephews and nieces have all killed several deer with the 243. With 85 grain Sierra BTHP GK, TSX, Partition - 90 grain Scirocco, Accubond, 95 grain B-Tips and Partitions and never lost a deer and we don't have deer dogs. This over the last 15 years with kids from 10 years old eventually up to 20. Well north of 30 deer killed with several in the 250Lb+ class including horns. It is interesting though, my youngest boy is the only one still shooting the 243, he is 22 now. The rest have all picked different and in all cases bigger bullets for their 'grown up' guns from 260 up to 300Bee. We have lost 4 deer over the years from adults shooting .223Rem, 270Win, 308Win, and 30-06. The 30-06 and 270 losses were old timers no longer with us and it was failing eye site and Parkinsons as the culprit, not cartridge selection.

My guess for the difference is either you are shooting mule deer or it is a cover thing. It is extremely thick where these whitetails are hunted. .243's and good blood trails should never be in the same sentence together.

 

[Quintus]

Most have been in the woods and swamps of northern MN. Some have been in picked Ag, fields, but alot have been poppler thicks and willow swamps, birch stands and oak groves choked with prickly ash.

 

[Orange Dust]

Most have been in the woods and swamps of northern MN. Some have been in picked Ag, fields, but alot have been poppler thicks and willow swamps, birch stands and oak groves choked with prickly ash.

We have thickets down here a dog can't get through. Pretty sure that's the difference.